Power management of low power link states

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for intelligent power management for low power link states. Some embodiments include methods, apparatuses, and systems for a device coupled to a controller via a link; a link power management engine to alter a power state of the link based on a transaction and some knowledge of future transactions between the device and the controller; and a memory or logic to store the link power management engine. In some embodiments, the memory stores information about at least one of the following: the power state of the link, the device buffering, the controller or device state or a history of transactions. In some embodiments, the device is a peripheral of a computer system. In some embodiments, the method may include transitioning the device to various link states. Other embodiments are described.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/725,880 filed Dec. 21, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,738,950; which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/186,322 filed Jul.19, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,341,445, issued Dec. 25, 2012; which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/906,007 filed Sep.29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,984,314, issued Jul. 19, 2011; whichapplication claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/930,247 filed May 14, 2007. These applications areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

Some embodiments of the invention generally relate to link power statesof devices. In particular, some embodiments relate to power managementof link states.

BACKGROUND

Computer systems commonly are sensitive to the behavior of devicescoupled to the systems. Such effects include power management issues.Because power management has typically operated in a cooperative model,one badly behaving device can, by preventing a computer system fromtransitioning to an appropriate state of reduced power consumption,reduce the effectiveness of any or all platform power managementmechanisms.

In one example, power in a computer system may be optimized utilizinglow power states. Multiple different states with different levels ofoperation and power savings may be available. However, a processor ofthe computer system or any computer subsystem can remain stuck in ahigher power state due to, for example, communication traffic generatedby a device that is operating in an unnecessary or inopportune manner.

Many devices in current computer systems make use of PCI, PCI Express(PCIe), or Universal Serial Bus (USB, USB2) interconnects via on-boardintegration, integrated Mini-Card devices, ExpressCard slots, and/or USBwalk-up ports. These interconnect standards, among others, are not inthemselves optimized for power-friendly devices. Because of this, theremay be a need for power efficient device design through use of trafficalignment, coalescing interrupts, and providing robust low power linkstate usage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example, and notby way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numerals refer to similar elements:

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the transition of a system to higher poweredstates as data is transferred;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart to illustrate a timeout based link powermanagement policy;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart to illustrate an embodiment of an intelligent linkpower management process;

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram illustrating link power state latencymanagement according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a computer system that may include anembodiment of link power management; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an implementation of a deep idle state that may beutilized in some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An embodiment of the invention concerns power management of link states.

In some embodiments, a system provides for improved power efficiencywith regard to low power link state usage. In some embodiments, acomputer system provides for transitions between link states for adevice that are related to active traffic usage, rather than onlyelapsed time. In some embodiments, a link will be prevented fromdropping unnecessarily to a lower power state when there is activetraffic for a device.

The PCI Express Specification (including PCI Express Base SpecificationRevision 1.0, Jul. 22, 2002, PCI Special Interest Group, and thesubsequent PCI Express Base Specification Revision 2.0, Jan. 15, 2007,PCI Special Interest Group) defines a concept of several link states fora device that is in an active (“D0”) state. In this definition, “L0” isthe active link state wherein transactions may be in flight. “L0s” isthe first stage of idleness for the link, and is known as the “standby”state. In this state, some amount of power is saved by quiescing thelink while still maintaining active all relevant circuitry tore-activate the link within a period that is typically less than 100symbol times. Active State Power Management (ASPM) “L1” is the nextlevel of power savings, and is known as “lower power standby”. In L1,the link enters a deeper level of power savings, and the device canoptionally power off its internal clock circuit, which may include a PLL(phase lock loop). The PCIe specification also specifies a model forsoftware to programmatically discover the link latency structures fromthe top of the system hierarchy to the endpoint, and then evaluatewhether the path for these latencies exceeds what a device can tolerate,thereby setting the link active state power management policyaccordingly on a link-by-link basis.

However, conventional methodology for link power states is insufficientand leads to several key problems for devices in making use of the lowerpower link states. Specifically:

(1) Devices generally use a timeout-based policy for progression fromL0→L0s→L1. Thus, the transition to a lower state is based on a timer,and the link state will transition to the next lower state if sufficienttime has elapsed.

(2) In many computer systems, especially mobile platforms, that includekey power management features such as deep C4, C5, and C6, the latencyfor issuance of a transaction on a given endpoint link, continuing untilthe transaction completes in memory and is potentially also snooped onthe FSB (front side bus—carrying data between the central processingunit and the north bridge), can be much larger than the maximumtolerable exit latency as computed through walking the link structure.The maximum tolerable exit latency may be expected to be about 55 μs insome computer systems, including, but not limited to, Intel® Core 2 DuoMobile Platforms.

(3) The PCIe standards were enhanced in an ECN (engineering changenotice) to the PCIe base specification 1.0a dated 12 Jan. 2004, and alsoincluded in the 1.1 and 2.0 PCIe Base Specification releases, to includethe concept of device PLL (or other device internal clock circuit) powerdown via a CLKREQ# (clock request) protocol coupled with L1. Incurringlong latencies on the existing L1 mode with PLL power down can result inhost processor stalls, thereby resulting in I/O starvation or hostprocessor performance issues.

In some embodiments, intelligent methods of managing link state usageare provided. In some embodiments, variations of lower power states maybe supported in the link policy. For example, variations of L1 stateswith and without device internal clock circuit power down (depending ondevice traffic patterns for a device at any given moment) may beprovided. In some embodiments, link state power levels are utilized toreduce the latency of low power link state exits in order to avoid hostprocessor stalls.

Many conventional peripheral devices move traffic in the computer systemon their own schedules through a concept known as bus mastering. ForPCIe based peripherals, the generation of bus master traffic is handledindependently from any activity that may be occurring naturally in thesystem. In operation, at the moment traffic is flowing from a device,the whole system must be progressively driven out of the deep idlestates.

FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrate the transition of a system to higher poweredstates as data is transferred. The following processes are illustratedin FIG. 1A and described in FIG. 1B 150, in which it is assumed that asystem platform begins in an idle state:

(1) In a system 100, a device 102 is coupled to an I/O controller 106via a bus, which may be, for example, a PCIe or USB link 104. Device 102may be, for example, peripheral device of a computer. In this example,the device 102 brings the link 104 out of a low power state for purposesof issuing a transaction, which may be a read or write transaction.

(2) The transaction request brings a chipset interface 108 (DMI—DirectMedia Interface) out of a low power state.

(3) A graphics memory controller 110 then exits a low power state inorder to service the incoming request from the chipset interface 108.

(4) The graphics memory controller 110 takes action to bring a frontside bus (FSB) 112 out of low power state, and acts to snooptransactions.

(5) A processor 114 coupled with the front side bus 112 exits a lowpower state to service the snoop transactions.

(6) The graphics memory controller 110 is coupled with memory elements118 a-118 n via connections 116 a-116 n (DDR—Double Data Rateoperation), and the graphics memory controller 110 brings the memory outof self-refresh mode and issues memory transactions.

(7) The relevant data or transaction completions then flow back to thedevice 102.

(8) The system platform then returns to an idle state, which involveseach relevant element transitioning to a lower power state.

As is apparent from FIGS. 1 and 2, numerous transitions are required totransition a platform from an idle, lower power state to an activestate. It can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 2 that the latency seen by thedevice for its transaction to reach memory may be significant, and maybe much larger than the PCI-e link exit latency. The tolerable exitlatency specified by the device in its configuration registers is onlytaken into account for the link exit latency, not for the transaction tomemory completion.

A link policy engine, implemented in hardware or software, or acombination of hardware or software, may commonly use a timeout basedpolicy as observed by real-world data collection on devices implementingL1. A timeout based link power management policy may be as shown in FIG.2. In FIG. 2, a link begins in active state L0 or transitions to thisstate 205. If there is a transaction pending 210, the link will remainin L0 205. If not, then there is a determination whether the link hasbeen idle for a particular time period, which may be a period of 7 μs asillustrated or another time period. If not, the link remains in L0 205.If 7 μs have elapsed, the link transitions to standby state L0s 220. InL0s, there is a determination whether a transaction is pending 225. Ifso, the link will transition from standby L0s back to active state L0205. If not, there is a determination whether the link has been idle fora certain time period, such as 30 μs 230. If not, the link remains inL0s. If so, then the link transitions to power state L1 235, a deeperlow power state. If a transaction is pending, then the link transitionsback to active state L0. However, a greater amount of time will berequired to bring the link to L0 from L1 than would be required had thelink been in state L0s. (If there are no transactions pending, the linkis shown to remain in state L1, but the link may transition to otherlower power states for buses other than PCIe, which does not allow forlink states lower than L1 when the device is in D0 state.)

While FIG. 2 illustrates a simple power management policy, such policyis not sufficiently robust in situations where the system response timesare slow (i.e. the platform is in a deep low power state), in which casethe link may be brought from L1→L0, followed by initiation of thetransaction, and by the time the transaction has completed the linkpolicy may have brought the link back again to L1. This may result indata overrun or underrun and device failure, and is especially prevalentand problematic in scenarios where the PCIe transactions are bursty innature, with device send/receive data rates being much lower than PCIedata rates. In some implementations, the timeout value may be set to alarge value (for example, in the range of 3 to 5 msec) to avoid therepeated transitions from L0 to L0s to L1, and then returning from L1 toL0. However, if this is done, then the link is unnecessarily kept in ahigh power state when it could have appropriately transitioned into alower power state. In some embodiments, the process of transition fromL0 is transformed from a measurement of idle time 230 to an intelligentprocess that recognizes device activity.

In some embodiments, the policy illustrated in FIG. 2 may be enhancedwhereby the link PM (power management) engine (which may be owned by thedevice, and may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combinationof hardware and software) is cognizant of the device traffic patternsthat are in flight at any given moment. It is possible that data isbeing buffered at the device at a continuous rate, but, because of thehigh peak bandwidth of the PCIe bus, this only requires a small dutycycle on the PCIe link. In such a case, in order to avoid link statethrash, the link policy engine may be augmented with deeper deviceknowledge such that, for example, it does not transition the link anydeeper than L0s while between bursts of a longer buffered devicetransaction if the duration between the bursts is small.

In some embodiments, the power management engine provides link powerpolicy management that may include:

1) Use of two variations of L1: L1 with device PLL (phase lock loop) (orother device internal clock circuit) power down (via assertion orde-assertion of a clock request (CLKREQ#)) and “traditional” L1 withoutpowering down the PLL. The decision to use the deep power state may bebased on the latency tolerance of the device and the frequency ofaccesses from the host in the current conditions. Recent transactionhistory and device connection state may be taken into account as well,according to some embodiments.

2) Link policy that is based on current device state, versus blindlyentering link states if a transaction request has not been processedwithin some period of time.

3) Proper buffering to deal with device latencies that may be observedin deeply power managed mobile platforms.

In some embodiments, the link power management engine may begin bymonitoring a link of a device for a transaction. When a transaction ispending, the engine may transition the link to an active state. If thereis no transaction pending and the device is idle for some duration oftime, such as, but not limited to, about 7 μs, the engine may thentransition the link to a standby state. Or if there is no transactionpending and the device is not anticipating actively sending or receivinginformation over the bus, then the engine may determine whether the linkcan be transitioned into a standby, idle, or deep idle state. In someembodiments, to support intelligent link management, a link powermanagement engine stores information about at least one of thefollowing: the link state, the device buffering, the controller ordevice state, or a history of transactions.

If the device can be transitioned into the deep idle state, then theengine may transition the link into the deep idle state by at leastshutting down a device PLL or other internal clock circuit. However, ifthe device should not be transitioned into the deep idle state, then theengine may transition the link into the idle state. When there is atransaction pending, the engine may transition the link from the idle ordeep idle state to the active state. In some embodiments, the engine maytransition the link to an active state from any of the other linkstates. In some embodiments, the device may be transitioned directlyfrom an idle state to a deep idle state and back. In some embodiments,the device PLL may be shut down at least in part by a signal thatdirects the device to reference a clock source.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart to illustrate an embodiment of an intelligent linkpower process. In this illustration, a link currently is in active stateL0 or transitions to this state 305. If there is a transaction pending310, the link will remain in L0 305. If not, the device transitions to alower power state. In some embodiments, the device may be transitionedfrom the active state to a standby state, or may be transitioneddirectly from that active state to an idle or deep idle state withoutgoing through the standby state. For example, if no activity is expectedsoon 315, the link may transition directly to idle L1 335. If activitymay occur soon, the link may transition to standby state L0s 320, whichmay occur immediately or after a wait of a certain time period. A timeperiod may be, for example, a time period of no more than 7 μs. In otherembodiments different time periods may be used, as one skilled in theart would appreciate based at least in part on the teachings describedherein. In L0s, there is a determination whether a transaction ispending 325. If so, the link will transition from L0s back to activestate L0 305. In some embodiments, if there is not a transactionpending, there is a determination whether the device is anticipatingsending or receiving operations 330. In some embodiments, the knowledgeof the device with regarding to ongoing operations is used in thedetermination of activity. For example, if a device has transferred dataand is awaiting a reply, this activity of the device is utilized in thedetermination of the link power state. Device knowledge of periodicityof data may also be utilized for determining link power state. If thedevice is anticipating activity, the link remains in standby state L0s320. If the device is not active, then the link transitions to powerstate L1 335. In some embodiments, a determination may be made whether adeep idle state is appropriate for the device. In some embodiments, thedetermination may be made based at least in part on knowledge of thedevice of expected operation. If a deep idle state is appropriate, thereis a transition to L1 with de-assertion of CLKREQ#350, and thus allowingturning off the device PLL or other internal clock circuit. If a deepidle state is not appropriate, there is a transition to L1 withassertion of CLKREQ#340. With either state, if there is a transactionpending 345 or 355 then the link transitions back to L0 305. (If thereare no transactions pending, the link is shown to remain in state L1,but the link may transition to other lower power states for buses otherthan PCIe, which does not allow for link states lower than L1 when thedevice is in D0 state.) In some embodiments, there may be transitionsbetween the L1 states 340 and 350 as appropriate 360.

FIG. 4 is a timing diagram 400 illustrating link power state latencymanagement according to some embodiments. In this illustration, theactual data pattern 402 includes a series of transactions with period ofinactivity between such transactions, which may include data latency inthe system. (The illustration shows regularly spaced transactions forsimplicity, but embodiments are not restricted to any particular datapattern.) In this illustration, a simple link timeout policy 404 isshown, which may represent the policy provided in FIG. 2. The linkbegins in L1 state 406, and transitions to L0 when the data transfer isrequested. After completion of the transfer, the link will quicklytransition to L0s (which may be after a certain period, such as 7 μs ofidle time). However, because of data latency, the link times out (aftera defined period of idle time) and transitions to L1. However, thetransition back from L1 to L0 is relatively slow and thus there may be alatency in each data transfer and significant link state thrashing.

In contrast, an enhanced link policy 408 provides for improvedperformance. The enhanced policy may represent the policy provided inFIG. 3. Under this policy, the link state 410 begins in L1 and there isa leadoff latency for transition to L0 in the first data transferinstance. At this point the device is generally aware of its dataactivity. After the data transfer, the link transitions to L0s (after 7μs of idle time). However, the link does not transition to L1 when thedevice is active, remaining instead in standby state L0s. Thus, thetransitions to L0 occur more quickly, reducing latency in eachsubsequent transfer. The system then transitions to L1 when the deviceis no longer active.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a computer system that may include anembodiment of link power management. In this illustration, certainstandard and well-known components that are not germane to the presentdescription are not shown. Under some embodiments, a computer 500comprises a bus 505 or other communication means for communicatinginformation, and a processing means such as one or more processors 510coupled with the bus 505 for processing information. The processors 510may comprise one or more physical processors and one or more logicalprocessors. Further, each of the processors 510 may include multipleprocessor cores. The computer 500 is illustrated with a single bus 505for simplicity, but the computer may have multiple different buses andthe component connections to such buses may vary. The bus 505 shown inFIG. 5 is an abstraction that represents any one or more separatephysical buses, point-to-point connections, or both connected byappropriate bridges, adapters, or controllers. The bus 505 may include,for example, a system bus, a PCI or PCIe bus, a HyperTransport orindustry standard architecture (ISA) bus, a small computer systeminterface (SCSI) bus, a USB or USB2, IIC (I2C) bus, or an Institute ofElectrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard 1394 bus, sometimesreferred to as “Firewire”. (“Standard for a High Performance Serial Bus”1394-1995, IEEE, published Aug. 30, 1996, and supplements) In someembodiments, the computer 500 may support power management, includingpower management for link states.

In some embodiments, the processors 510 may be utilized to support oneor more virtual machines. In some embodiments, the computer 500 furthercomprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage deviceas a main memory 520 for storing information and instructions to beexecuted by the processors 510. Main memory 520 also may be used forstoring temporary variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions by the processors 510. In some embodiments,the main memory 520 is used to store a link power management engine. Insome embodiments, to support intelligent link management, the link powermanagement engine stores information about at least one of thefollowing: the link state, buffering, the controller or device state, ora history of transactions. RAM memory includes dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM), which requires refreshing of memory contents, and staticrandom access memory (SRAM), which does not require refreshing contents,but at increased cost. DRAM memory may include synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), which includes a clock signal to controlsignals, and extended data-out dynamic random access memory (EDO DRAM).In some embodiments, memory of the system may include a shared memory,such as a shared BIOS/OS memory, that is accessible by multiple agentsin the computer system. The computer 500 also may comprise a read onlymemory (ROM) 525 or other static storage device for storing staticinformation and instructions for the processors 510. The computer 500may include one or more non-volatile memory devices 530 for the storageof certain elements, including, but not limited to, system BIOS and oneor more pre-OS applications.

Data storage 535 may also be coupled to the bus 505 of the computer 500for storing information and instructions. The data storage 535 mayinclude a magnetic disk, an optical disc and its corresponding drive, orother memory device. Such elements may be combined together or may beseparate components, and utilize parts of other elements of the computer500. In a particular embodiment, the data storage 535 may include a harddrive 536.

The computer 500 may also be coupled via the bus 505 to a display device540, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) display, a liquid crystal display(LCD), a plasma display, or any other display technology, for displayinginformation to an end user. In some embodiments, the display device maybe utilized to display television programming. In some environments, thedisplay device 540 may include a touch-screen that is also utilized asat least a part of an input device. In some environments, the displaydevice 540 may be or may include an audio device, such as a speaker forproviding audio information, including the audio portion of a televisionprogram. An input device 545 may be coupled to the bus 505 forcommunicating information and/or command selections to the processors510. In various implementations, input device 545 may be a keyboard, akeypad, a touch-screen and stylus, a voice-activated system, or otherinput device, or combinations of such devices. Another type of userinput device that may be included is a cursor control device 550, suchas a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to the one or moreprocessors 510 and for controlling cursor movement on the display device540.

One or more communication devices 555 may also be coupled to the bus505. Depending upon the particular implementation, the communicationdevice 555 may include a transceiver, a wireless modem, a networkinterface card, LAN (Local Area Network) on motherboard, or otherinterface device. The uses of a communication device 555 may includereception of signals from wireless devices. For radio communications,the communication device 555 may include one or more antennas 558,including any dipole or monopole antennas, as required. In oneembodiment, the communication device 555 may include a firewall toprotect the computer 500 from improper access. The computer 500 may alsobe linked to a network, such as network 565, or to other devices usingthe communication devices 555, which may include links to the Internet,a local area network, or another environment. The computer 500 may alsocomprise a power device or system 560, which may comprise a powersupply, a battery, a solar cell, a fuel cell, or other system or devicefor providing or generating power. The power provided by the powerdevice or system 560 may be distributed as required to elements of thecomputer 500. In some embodiments, the power distribution may beaffected by power management, including the power management of linkstates.

FIG. 6 illustrates an implementation of a deep idle state that may beutilized in some embodiments. In this illustration, a PCIe root complex(ICH—Input/Output Controller Hub 602) includes multiple root ports604-606 that connect via PCIe links 608-610 to PCIe endpoints 612-614.Each PCIe endpoint 612-614 receives a PCIe clock signal 616-618 from aPCIe clock buffer 624, and a clock signal 610 is also received by theICH 602. The PCIe clock buffer 624 receives a clock signal from a clocksource 626. In this illustration, each PCIe endpoint 612-614 may providea clock request signal CLKREQ#620-622. If the clock request isde-asserted, the internal clock circuit for the device may be shut down,allowing for a deeper idle state.

Those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure willappreciate that many other variations from the foregoing description anddrawings may be made within the scope of the invention. Indeed, theinvention is not limited to the details described above. Rather, it isthe following claims including any amendments thereto that define thescope of the invention.

In the description above, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some ofthese specific details. In other instances, well-known structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form.

Embodiments of the invention may include various processes. Theprocesses of the invention may be performed by hardware components ormay be embodied in machine-executable instructions, which may be used tocause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor or logic circuitsprogrammed with the instructions to perform the processes.Alternatively, the processes may be performed by a combination ofhardware and software.

Portions of the invention may be provided as a computer program product,which may include a machine-readable medium having stored thereoninstructions, which may be used to program a computer (or otherelectronic devices) to perform a process according to the invention. Themachine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppydiskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs (compact disk read-only memory), andmagneto-optical disks, ROMs (read-only memory), RAMs (random accessmemory), EPROMs (erasable programmable read-only memory), EEPROMs(electrically-erasable programmable read-only memory), magnet or opticalcards, flash memory, or other type of media/machine-readable mediumsuitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, embodiments ofthe invention may also be downloaded as a computer program product,wherein the program may be transferred from a remote computer to arequesting computer by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave orother propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem ornetwork connection).

Many of the methods are described in their most basic form, butprocesses can be added to or deleted from any of the methods andinformation can be added or subtracted from any of the describedmessages without departing from the basic scope of the invention. Itwill be apparent to those skilled in the art that further modificationsand adaptations can be made. The particular embodiments are not providedto limit the invention but to illustrate it. The scope of the inventionis not to be determined by the specific examples provided above but onlyby the claims below.

It should also be appreciated that reference throughout thisspecification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature may be included in the practice of the invention.Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description ofexemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of theinvention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure,or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosureand aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventiveaspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than allfeatures of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claimsare hereby expressly incorporated into this description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A first device comprising: a link powermanagement logic to cause a link with a second device to transitionbetween a plurality of power management states including an activestate, a first idle state, and a second idle state; wherein the linkpower management logic is to: monitor the link for transactions,including monitoring for bursts of data in transactions; initiate afirst inactivity timer in response to the link being idle; cause thelink to transition from the active state to the first idle state inresponse to expiration of the first inactivity timer; initiate a secondinactivity timer in response to the link being transitioned to the firstidle state; cause the link to transition from the first idle state tothe second idle state in response to expiration of the second inactivitytimer, with exception that, upon the link power management logicdetecting activity including bursts of data with a duration between thebursts that is shorter than a certain threshold length of time, the linkpower management logic is to cause the link to remain in the first idlestate rather than transitioning to the second idle state; and cause thelink to transition from one of the first idle state and the second idlestate to the active state when a pending data packet is to betransmitted on the link.
 2. The first device of claim 1, wherein, uponthe link power management logic determining that activity on the link isanticipated, the link power management logic is further to cause thelink to remain in the first idle state rather than transitioning to thesecond idle state.
 3. The first device of claim 2, wherein determiningwhether activity on the link is anticipated includes knowledge ofperiodicity of data transactions.
 4. The first device of claim 1,wherein, upon the link power management logic determining that one ormore packets to be transmitted on the link are pending, the link powermanagement logic is further to cause the link to remain in the activestate rather than transitioning to the first idle state.
 5. The firstdevice of claim 1, wherein causing the link to transition from one ofthe first idle state and the second idle state to the active state whena pending data packet is to be transmitted on the link includes causingthe link to transition to the active state when a data transfer for thelink is requested.
 6. The first device of claim 1, wherein the linkconsumes a lower amount of power in the second idle state than in thefirst idle state and the link consumes a lower amount of power in thefirst idle state than in the active state.
 7. An apparatus comprising:an internal clock circuit; a connection with a link to a secondapparatus; and a link power management logic to cause the link totransition between a plurality of power management states including anactive state, a first idle state, and a second idle state, wherein thelink power management logic is to: monitor the link for transactions,including monitoring of bursts of data in transactions, initiate a firstinactivity timer in response to the link being idle, cause the link totransition from the active state to the first idle state in response toexpiration of the first inactivity timer, initiate a second inactivitytimer in response to the link being transitioned to the first idlestate, cause the link to transition from the first idle state to thesecond idle state in response to expiration of the second inactivitytimer, with exception that, upon the link power management logicdetecting activity including bursts of data with a duration between thebursts that is shorter than a certain threshold length of time, the linkpower management logic is to cause the link to remain in the first idlestate rather than transitioning to the second idle state, power off theinternal clock circuit in the second idle state if appropriate based atleast in part upon expected operations on the link, and cause the linkto transition from one of the first idle state and the second idle stateto the active state when a pending data packet is to be transmitted onthe link.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the expected operationson the link are based on traffic patterns for the apparatus.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein, upon the link power management logicdetermining that activity on the link is anticipated, the link powermanagement logic is further to cause the link to remain in the firstidle state rather than transitioning to the second idle state.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein, upon the link power management logicdetermining that one or more packets to be transmitted on the link arepending, the link power management logic is further to cause the link toremain in the active state rather than transitioning to the first idlestate.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein causing the link totransition from one of the first idle state and the second idle state tothe active state when a pending data packet is to be transmitted on thelink includes causing the link to transition to the active state when adata transfer for the link is requested.
 12. The apparatus of claim 7,wherein the apparatus is a peripheral device of a computer.
 13. Asystem, comprising: a first device; a second device; and a link powermanagement logic to cause a link coupling the first device and a seconddevice to transition between a plurality of power management statesincluding an active state, a first idle state, and a second idle state;wherein the link power management logic is to: monitor the link fortransactions, including monitoring for bursts of data in transactions,initiate a first inactivity timer in response to the link being idle,cause the link to transition from the active state to the first idlestate in response to expiration of the first inactivity timer, initiatea second inactivity timer in response to the link being transitioned tothe first idle state, cause the link to transition from the first idlestate to the second idle state in response to expiration of the secondinactivity timer, with exception that, upon the link power managementlogic detecting activity including bursts of data with a durationbetween the bursts that is shorter than a certain threshold length oftime, the link power management logic is to cause the link to remain inthe first idle state rather than transitioning to the second idle state,and cause the link to transition from one of the first idle state andthe second idle state to the active state when a pending data packet isto be transmitted on the link.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein, uponthe link power management logic determining that activity on the link isanticipated, the link power management logic is further to cause thelink to remain in the first idle state rather than transitioning to thesecond idle state.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein determiningwhether activity on the link is anticipated includes knowledge ofperiodicity of data transactions.
 16. The system of claim 13, wherein,upon the link power management logic determining that one or morepackets to be transmitted on the link are pending, the link powermanagement logic is further to cause the link to remain in the activestate rather than transitioning to the first idle state.
 17. The systemof claim 13, wherein causing the link to transition from one of thefirst idle state and the second idle state to the active state when apending data packet is to be transmitted on the link includes causingthe link to transition to the active state when a data transfer for thelink is requested.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions that,when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operationscomprising: monitor activity on a link between a first device and asecond device, including monitoring of bursts of data in transactions;initiating a first inactivity timer in response to the link between thefirst device and the second device being idle; causing the link totransition from the active state to the first idle state in response toexpiration of the first inactivity timer; initiating a second inactivitytimer in response to the link being transitioned to the first idlestate; causing the link to transition from the first idle state to thesecond idle state in response to expiration of the second inactivitytimer, with exception that, upon detecting activity including bursts ofdata with a duration between the bursts that is shorter than a certainthreshold length of time, causing the link to remain in the first idlestate rather than transitioning to the second idle state; and causingthe link to transition from one of the first idle state and the secondidle state to the active state when a pending data packet is to betransmitted on the link.
 19. The medium of claim 18, further comprisinginstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto perform operations comprising: causing the link to remain in thefirst idle state rather than transitioning to the second idle state whenactivity on the link is anticipated.
 20. The medium of claim 18, furthercomprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to perform operations comprising: causing the link to remainin the active state rather than transitioning to the first idle state ifone or more packets to be transmitted on the link are pending.
 21. Themedium of claim 18, wherein causing the link to transition from one ofthe first idle state and the second idle state to the active state whena pending data packet is to be transmitted on the link includes causingthe link to transition to the active state when a data transfer for thelink is requested.
 22. The medium of claim 18, further comprisinginstructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto perform operations comprising: powering off an internal clock circuitif appropriate based at least in part upon expected operations on thelink.